Monday, October 31, 2011

Working through the pain

I haven't stitched much in several months. Why? Because I've been struggling with "tennis elbow," or tendinitis since July.

Since I don't like going to the Dr., the diagnosis came from the resident PTA, who can't legally diagnosis. But, I'm pretty sure he's safe from me suing him since I have intimate knowledge of his financial status, and I already have everything he owns.

The "Tennis Elbow" in my case should be called "Shifting Elbow"...or maybe "Moving-too-many-damn-books Elbow." I'm guessing it's a repetitive stress injury from 20+ years of moving lots and lots of heavy books. This summer, for example, I handled approximately 20,000 books. All of them were picked up, 4 at a time, by me. All within a 3 week time period. Using the same arm...which led to the injury.

It's one of those hidden aspects of librarianship. I knew I was at risk for Carpel Tunnel, I was warned of that 20+ years ago. And the primary culprit of Carpel Tunnel? Shifting books. No one told me I could also get Tennis Elbow. Not that it would have changed a thing, because I have this tendency to think "that won't happen to me." (Thinking that tends to get me into sooooo much trouble...)

So, my elbow hurts. It hurts when I lift anything with that one hand. It hurts when I hyper-extend that arm. It hurts to drive, it hurts to reach and grab things. It hurts to put stuff up on a tall shelf. It hurts to get things down from a tall shelf. It even hurts to stitch. The usual prescribed treatment? To rest the elbow. To not use it.

Yeah...right.

My personal therapist also told me to ice it and to do some electronic stimulation on it. We have a e-stim machine at home. I've used it twice. Ice? Haven't done it. Rest the elbow? ...well...why don't you give that a try and see if you are better at it than I am!

I've just been dealing with it, and trying to not do anything that would make it hurt. Not successfully, but I try. Which means I've stopped doing a couple of things that would aggravate it, like shooting my bow and stitching.

So, I'm not bow hunting this year. And I haven't been stitching. Even though some special little girls have needed their gifts. They are five months old and I had a goal of getting them their gifts much sooner than now. BUT...this weekend, I finished up their project. It's in the mail, and will arrive at their house tomorrow...

3 comments:

Those are absolutely beautiful! I'm sorry you've got a bum elbow. Does a brace help? I think I broke a bone in my hand in August and I haven't gone to the doctor either. I figure they'll just tell me to rest it and like you, I wonder how you're supposed to do that! I bought a brace and wear it some, but I'm still taking it off a lot because it gets in the way. Hope your elbow gets to feeling better soon. I know it's frustrating.